These days, it’s rare for any other school to land a recruit Kentucky has its eyes on. That’s how it has worked since John Calipari came aboard 3½ years ago.

On Thursday, the Wildcats managed to pull off perhaps the best two-for-one deal in history when they not only landed the talented Harrison twins—the best point guard in the Class of ’13 (Andrew) and the best shooting guard (Aaron).

Andrew and Aaron Harrison arrived Thursday evening at the Travis High gym in Richmond, Texas, wearing sharp suits for their national TV appearance and flanked by their parents. They didn’t play the hat dance or make it into any kind of circus. When the red light came on the ESPN camera, Andrew just made a simple, classy and official pledge to Kentucky.

“Coach Cal presented a challenge to us, and he told us that it was going to be hard and tough and he was going to push us,” Andrew said. “I think we both liked that. ... I know (Calipari’s) track record, of course. He has a lot of high draft picks at point guard. I just want to get there first and become better every day. I’m not looking to (the NBA) yet. I just want to get on campus and show them what I can do.”

Maryland and SMU were the other two finalists. Maryland’s coaching staff had impressed the Harrisons and the program features one of their best friends in Shaquille Cleare. SMU had Hall of Famer Larry Brown on board as coach—a man who has won championships in the NBA and in Division I college basketball. Plus, SMU is close to their home in Texas.

Still, Calipari almost never loses in recruiting wars.

Kentucky won’t have to wait for any chemistry in their backcourt, at least not with these two players. They have chemistry going back to the crib.

“We just sat down one night and decided that we wanted to go somewhere we knew we could win the minute we got there,” Aaron said Thursday.

This summer, the Harrisons told Sporting News that they began developing their roles on the court as early as early as fourth grade. At the time, they both basically played like shooting guards, but their coach and father—Aaron Harrison Sr.—asked Andrew to start bringing the ball up the court because their youth team had problems at the position.

It was a good move. Andrew became the top-ranked point guard in the nation, and Aaron became the top-rated wing. The top two guards in the nation have shared a room since infancy, and that likely continue through college.

Unlike some twins who choose to go separate ways so they can develop their own identities, the Harrisons never considered separating in college.

Andrew can score, but his role at Kentucky obviously will be more of a setup man at the point. He’s physical, loves to drive the lane and can distribute as well as anybody. It doesn’t hurt that he’s 6-5, either. The key to Andrew is his unselfish style of play—he simply doesn’t care who gets the points, the mark of a fine point guard.

Aaron might be a little bit more selfish on the court, but with good reason: He can burn up the nets. Defenders have found with Aaron that they can pack it in tight and get ripped from the outskirts of 3-point land, or they can stretch out and get beaten off the dribble. Either way, it hurts.

“I don’t think people realize how big they are,” Aaron Sr. told Sporting News over the summer. “They’re big strong guys, about 6-foot-5, both of them. And they’re both around 213 pounds or 215 pounds with only about 7 or 8 percent body fat. I don’t think people understand all of that until they stand next to them, that they are big guards.”

The Harrisons now are the second and third Kentucky commitments, joining forward Derek Willis, a native from Mt. Washington, Ky., who is ranked No. 126 by Rivals.com.

Calipari is not done, though.

He seemingly has had to turn over his Kentucky roster annually. After reaching the 2010 Elite Eight in his first year at UK, he lost John Wall, Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton early to the NBA. After reaching the ’11 Final Four, Brandon Knight, Josh Harrellson and DeAndre Liggins left for the NBA. And after winning the national title this spring, Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones, Marquis Teague, Doron Lamb and Darius Miller jumped to the NBA.

Calipari has Kentucky on the short list of three other top-10 prospects in the Class of ’13, including power forward Julius Randle, a Plano, Texas, native who is ranked the No. 1 overall by several recruiting services. Forward Aaron Gordon of San Jose, Calif., and small forward James Young of Rochester, Mich., also are considering Kentucky.

Canadian forward Andrew Wiggins, a junior who many analysts say is the top prospect in high school, is playing this season at Huntington Prep in West Virginia. He reportedly is considering reclassifying to the ’13 class, and Kentucky is considered the favorite to land him. Just two hours after the Harrisons committed, Calipari was in the stands in Huntington to watch Wiggins play.

Should Calipari land any of those top targets, he certainly would lock up what would be the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for the fifth consecutive year. And further feed the ravenous fans in the Bluegrass state.

“Last year, we went to Midnight Madness,” Andrew Harrison said Thursday. “It was crazy. As soon as Aaron and me got off the plane, people knew who we were and we were signing autographs and taking pictures with little kids and stuff. We kind of felt like rock stars. That’s not really why we went (to UK); we went because of basketball and all that stuff.”